Siegelbach Easter Egg Market Visit

Some friends and I took a trip to Siegelbach, just up the road from Kaiserslautern, for their Easter egg market on Saturday, 22 March at the Westpfalz-Werkstätten. For an admission fee of just one euro, we visited the small market, ate delicious cake, dyed eggs, and enjoyed ourselves.

I had attended a much bigger market in Seglientstadt the weekend before. This market, the Ostereier Market, was much smaller with 18 vendors versus the former's 60. However, it was enjoyable in a different way: it had a homey, small-town festival feel.Vendors were selling eggs with traditional patterns; eggs with hyper-modern, geometric patterns; eggs drilled with designs; blown glass art; stained glass; sewn Easter decorations; and even wooden eggs. There was a small, very earnest display of decorated eggs and egg holders.

One vendor sold personalized eggs; in a few minutes he finished an egg with the recipient's name and a design for three euros per egg.

Another booth offered the opportunity to dye boiled eggs. We each forked over a euro and were given an egg. It was a really cool way to decorate them: we picked either a cut out design on a piece of paper or a fresh herb, wrapped it around the egg in a (new) piece of pantyhose, closed it with wire, and stuck it in a pot of dye. After a few minutes, the dye was set and the egg freed from the pantyhose to show the finished, decorative product. We had a fun time interacting with the ladies working at the booth. They didn't exactly speak English and we are all beginners in German but we got our point across and laughed together. No matter what language it is in, I am totally incompetent with crafting. As I was desperately trying to wrap the egg in the pantyhose, the kind lady at the booth took the egg and showed me a better way to wrap it (I had it totally wrong).

Beautiful eggs: not made by me!

Herbs, paper cutouts, pantyhose, and wire: egg-dyeing supplies!

We had another fun experience with the glow blower. As we approached his booth, he said something welcoming to us in German. We stared at him, mystified. We all speak some level of German, but that doesn't mean that we always understand everything! Seeing our confused looks, he then asked if we were German (in German). We said no and he asked us where we were from in English. He was amused that we were all from different countries and wondered if we had met online. I found that comment pretty funny and astute, as that is often the case for expats! He was super friendly and said he wanted to make a gift for one of us. We nominated S and he made her an adorable, tiny mouse with ears the color of her country's flag. What a sweet guy he was! 

Next, we decided to enjoy some cake in the cafeteria. Two of us wanted cake with fruit on it but the pricing was a bit confusing because cake with fruit was one price and tortes were another. We weren't sure at which point the cake became a torte and neither was the lady working at the cash drawer as we bumbled through English and German trying to figure this out. The end result was that all of us, including the cashier, were giggling and we finally decided on a price. The cake was absolutely delicious and a steal at 1.50 euro, a sweet ending to our fun with the vendors.